I'm not going to insult anybody's intelligence by suggesting today's 0-0 draw with Everton was a classic, but there's undeniably something about a Derby game going into it's final minutes still there for either side to win that creates a tension like no other.
Neither team particularly deserved the three points on the strengths of their performances this afternoon, Everton seemed content to keep it tight and hope for a goal from a set piece while Liverpool never found their attacking stride and 0-0 was the only fair result. The visitors will be disappointed the referee disallowed a Sylvain Distin header after a small push by the Frenchman on Jamie Carragher as soon as the corner was taken but a foul is a foul, no matter how small. Liverpool didn't really look comfortable defending set pieces and can feel fortunate Distin gave the official the opportunity to rule the goal out as he was given far too much space to put away a straightforward header.
Daniel Sturridge had probably his poorest game since joining us in January, often choosing to shoot when the shot wasn't on but then opting not to pull the trigger when it seemed a good chance was there. The closest we came were two Steven Gerrard efforts that Tim Howard wasn't stopping, Distin and Phil Jagielka putting the blocks in at the right moments for the blues. Our attacking play wasn't sharp enough to warrant a goal but thankfully our defence wasn't overly troubled and despite looking vulnerable to corners and free kicks there wasn't a whole lot of danger of us conceding.
A lot of credit should go to the referee Michael Oliver today for understanding the occasion and keeping his yellow card in his pocket for the majority of the game. Both Leon Osman and Gerrard could have been booked in the first half but weren't, the game was struggling to flow as it was and a flurry of cards wouldn't have helped at all. One thing (okay, four things) that he missed though was Marouane Fellaini's elbow. He managed to get Daniel Agger twice, Gerrard and Martin Skrtel and it will be interesting to see what punishment he receives from the FA because A: the ref didn't see his elbows, B: the incidents were mentioned a lot on Twitter, C: the game was shown on live TV across the world, D: he's a repeat, in fact serial, offender, and, E: we wouldn't want our children going into school and elbowing other children. I'd be very surprised if the Prime Minister doesn't give us all his views at the first possible opportunity. Of course I'm being sarcastic about all of this, but it shows just how ridiculous the reaction to incidents like this can be.
The draw today means it's quite certain we'll finish seventh this season, one place higher than last. We've already got five points more than we managed last term and there's still two games to play so there are positives, despite our failure to qualify for Europe. I'll have a look at what finishing seventh means for us later on this week and hopefully get a few comments from my readers, see what you all think of our season.
Back to today and it's a shame we couldn't win for Carra but I'm delighted for him that he helped keep a clean sheet in his final Derby match. If I was petty I'd also take some satisfaction from the fact David Moyes will now leave Everton never having won at Anfield despite more than a decade of trying, but I'm not like that so I won't say it..............
We've had a couple of scoreless draws at Anfield recently and it makes you appreciate the 1-0 wins against Reading and Southampton a little more, the crucial and hard fought breakthroughs in those games earned us just as many points as when we've hit four, five or six past other teams. It would be easy to say we missed the creative spark of Luis Suarez today but most teams would miss a player of his quality and it's something we'll have to get used to until October so it's not an excuse for being poor in front of goal.
There are a few performances I'd like to highlight today apart from the obvious man of the match display from our captain. Firstly I think Philippe Couthinho showed a real eye for a pass and in spite of his diminutive stature he didn't struggle in his first Merseyside Derby. Jordan Henderson played well first half and made some very good short first touch flicks, he's certainly improved over the last few months. And finally Stewart Downing. He didn't offer a huge amount that will contribute to any highlights package but he played a big part in making sure Leighton Baines was no threat. If you don't play well enough to help us win then you have to make sure you help us not lose and he did that today.
The draw today means we've lost the same number of games against other sides in the top seven as the title winners Man Utd, but we've only managed one win. The draws against the sides we want to be competing with have proved costly and if this doesn't improve next time around we won't be able to take that next step forward.
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